With the development of gas and electric outdoor cooking appliances in the 1980's, various devices have been constructed for the purpose of generating wood smoke in the cooker for adding a wood smoke flavor to the food. Such devices typically comprise perforated containers for holding woodchips or pellets. The perforated container can be an integrated component of the cooking apparatus or it can be an independent accessory which will be placed in the cooker on or near the heat source.
Unfortunately, the smoke generating devices heretofore known in art have had numerous shortcomings and disadvantages. Many of the devices heretofore known in the art either have not been able to produce a sufficient amount of smoke or have not been able to prevent the wood fuel from bursting into flames. When the combustion regime in the smoking device changes from smoke production to flame production, the device no longer produces sufficient smoke for flavoring food. Moreover, the flaming of the wood fuel interferes with the cooking process and can burn the food.
In many gas or electric cookers, the design of the gas firebox or electric heating chamber of the outdoor cooker is such that the smoker container must be placed on or in very close proximity to the heat source. However, even in the case of devices that have a limited number of air openings to allow placement in close proximity to the heat source, the prior art devices have not been able to consistently prevent the wood fuel from producing flames. Moreover, the prior art devices have been particularly prone to severe flare-ups if suddenly exposed to significant excess air when, for example, the user opens the lid or cover of the cooker to check on or remove the food.
Another common deficiency of the prior art smoking devices is that the device will stop producing smoke even though the woodchips or pellets contained therein have not been entirely consumed. This occurs because the layer of fuel closest to the heat source is quickly converted by the burning process to a layer of charcoal and/or ash material which acts as an insulating, air flow barrier between the heat source and the remaining layers of fuel.
In addition, for these same reasons, there is also very little ability in the prior art smoking devices to extend the smoke release time to any significant degree by stacking more chips or pellets in the device. Rather, to extend the smoking time to some degree, it has been necessary in the prior art devices to soak the chips or pellets in water prior to use, which is time consuming and inconvenient. Nor do these prior art devices provide the ability to vary the intensity of the smoke produced over a given smoking time.